The House in the Cerulean Sea

On the surface, “The House in the Cerulean Sea” is a heart-warning tale about people who find their place in a confusing and unwelcoming world. At some point, everyone has felt like an outsider, so I think the messages of acceptance, being willing to know each person , and celebrate their uniqueness were lovely, even if a few speeches hit one over the head.

The beginning of the book is set in a chilly, rainy, dark city in which Linus Baker plods to and from a routine job, only to return home to be insulted by a pipe-smoking neighbor and ignored by his cat. I could really imagine every room and feeling without feeling as through the author was over explaining. There is a great sense of wonder and atmosphere that TJ Klune weaves throughout the story that kept pages turning.

The author did a nice job creating memorable characters with my favorites being Chauncey, Lucy, Talia, Sal, and Theodore (all the children were magnificently drawn, but not as much attention was paid to Phee). Each had their own voice, although I did think some of the children's language needed to be leveled more towards their age (being magical doesn't mean you are born with a complete sense of the English language, right?)

The love story is also super cute.

So, why did I give a 3 star rating instead of 4?

After finishing the book, I learned that the author's inspiration was the Indian Residential School system in Canada. For decades upon decades, Indigenous American children were stripped away for their families and forced to not use their language, follow their tribal customs, and were abused, raped, or even killed.

The moral of the book seems to be that society can still segregate “different” children, but it's okay if they're allowed to garden or practice being a bellhop, etc. By no means do I think the author is suggesting that the residential school system was “good.” So, yeah, that information tarnished my initially positive reaction to the book. A part of me still really enjoyed the reading experience; if we knew other author's inspirations, I am confident there are many wonderful books we'd want to chuck into the river.

With all that said, this could be a good YA book, even though it isn't billed as such. I would like to read other books by this author to see if the same skill with world building and characterization shows up.